Democratic-Republican Party

The Democratic-Republican Party was a conservative political party formed in 1799 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in opposition to the centralization of the United States. From the election of 1800 until 1828, it ruled the country, beginning with Jefferson's election and ending with John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay founding the National Republicans, which later became the American Whig Party in 1835. The party was formed in opposition to Alexander Hamilton's economic policies, which would mean government control and the assumption of state debts; it was also a Francophile party that wished to support France against Great Britain during the French Revolutionary Wars and break an era of neutrality. The party was elected when the Federalist Party was destroyed by infighting between Hamilton and John Adams, and it remained in power until the Era of Good Feelings came to an end.